June 06, 2011

Quinn defends appointing ex-Democratic lawmaker to labor board

SPRINGFIELD --- Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has given another job to an ousted Democratic lawmaker who voted for January's income-tax increase, and a Republican senator said today it “doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Former Rep. Mike Smith, 45, of Canton, the longtime chairman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, was appointed Friday to the Educational Labor Relations Board at a salary of $93,926 — a 20 percent increase over his legislative pay.

In Chicago today, Quinn defended the appointment, saying Smith "has a long record of serving in the General Assembly on behalf of education."

The governor said Smith has been "a friend of mine for quite some time," noting that Smith once sponsored a resolution on Quinn's behalf calling for the state to raise income taxes on those who make more than $250,000, with the money going toward education.

"I consider him a real champion for education," Quinn said.

The governor said Smith's appointment was not payback for that effort.

"He's no longer in the legislature, and I had to appoint someone to an important education board, and I thought of him," Quinn said.

Quinn’s choice of Smith follows criticism the governor received earlier this year for appointing ousted former Rep. Careen Gordon, a Democrat formerly of Morris, to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Quinn appointed her three days after she voted for the 67 percent increase in the personal income tax rate after she had made statements critical of hiking taxes during her failed re-election campaign.

A former prosecutor, Gordon resigned her prisons board position as it became clear her confirmation by the Senate was in doubt. A few weeks later, Quinn appointed Gordon to be a lawyer in the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Prisoner Review Board pay had been nearly $84,000 a year, and the new general counsel job paid $86,000. She did not have to go before the Senate for confirmation for the general counsel job.

As Quinn noted, Smith has a history of supporting tax increases.

In 2008, Smith sponsored a change in the Illinois Constitution that would have doubled the income tax on Illinois’ wealthiest people. The rate would have gone from 3 to 6 percent on people making more than $250,000 a year.

Two years ago, Smith voted for a smaller tax hike proposal than the one Democrats passed in January. He lost his re-election bid in November and voted in January as a lame duck for the 67 percent income tax rate increase.

Shortly after his January vote, Smith said in an interview that he was "always clear with his constituents" that Illinois needed to generate more money.

"My lame-status didn't affect my votes at all," said Smith, who could not be reached this morning.

Sen. Tim Bivins, the Dixon Republican who is minority spokesman on the Senate Executive Appointments Committee, said he will most likely oppose Smith’s appointment when it comes before the panel unless other information arises that would change his mind.

“It just doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Bivins, a former Lee County sheriff. “Maybe this appointment doesn’t violate any laws. Maybe this appointment doesn’t violate any ethics rules, but it certainly creates an appearance of impropriety, and I think as elected officials, we have a duty to avoid that appearance.”

Bivins compared the Smith appointment to Quinn’s appointment of Gordon and of Terry Cosgrove, who heads an abortion rights group called Personal PAC, which contributed heavily to the governor’s fall campaign. Cosgrove was appointed to the Human Rights Commission.

Even so, Sen. John Millner, a former Elmhurst police chief now living in Carol Stream, spoke favorably of Smith, saying, “Mike is a good man. He was a hard-working state representative.”

Smith was upfront with voters about where he stood on the tax issue, Millner said.

“From my estimation, he has the appropriate background as he was chair of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and on the education appropriations committee as well,” Millner said. “He has the necessary background.”

Smith’s chairmanship in the legislature allowed him to collect a stipend of $10,327 a year on top of his base salary of $67,836, giving him an overall annual paycheck of $78,163.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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